County's financial dispute with hospital carries on

Friday

Dec 14, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 14, 2012 at 9:51 AM

A typically innocuous task of making hospital board appointments last month ended up providing further evidence of an ongoing financial dispute between Gaston County and its chief health care provider.

Michael Barrett/mbarrett@gastongazette.com

A typically innocuous task of making hospital board appointments last month ended up providing further evidence of an ongoing financial dispute between Gaston County and its chief health care provider.

Rather than reappointing two sitting members of Gaston Memorial Hospital’s board of directors, Gaston County commissioners appointed two new members. The makeshift coup was carried out in part because of a dispute about how much the public, nonprofit hospital should be paying the county in lieu of taxes.

Gaston County owns the land and the building where the hospital operates and leases 88 acres to Gaston Memorial – the flagship of CaroMont Health – for $1 per year. But it feels the prosperous hospital, which receives major tax breaks, should be doing more to provide money that can be put toward public education and other critical services here.

County commissioners also appoint 13 of the 14 positions on the hospital board. And since hospital board members have not been receptive to the county’s monetary requests, commissioners have decided to appoint new people who will be.

Holding pattern

Another appointment was scheduled to be made Thursday night, to fill a third expiring term on the hospital board. But newly elected Commissioner Jason Williams said he needs more time to decide who he would like to nominate.

“At this point, I’m just not prepared to make it, so we’ll put it off until after the first of the year,” he said before the county commission meeting. “It’s nothing more than wanting to make the right decision.”

The seat in question is currently held by Richard Craig, president of A.B. Carter Corp. in Gastonia. Williams said Craig has expressed in interest in being reappointed, but that he would understand if Williams chose to go in a different direction.

Williams’ nominee will have to be approved by the full county commission. Craig will continue serving in the meantime.

Williams himself will begin serving on the hospital board next month as the county commission’s liaison. He will replace Commission Chairman Mickey Price, who is stepping down from that role after 12 years.

Price said he was simply ready to allow someone else to serve in that capacity.

Ongoing disagreement

The dispute between Gaston County and CaroMont Health has escalated within the last year, and has emerged as somewhat of a standoff.

County leaders have become accustomed to dealing with budget shortfalls and say they are struggling to scrape together money for education, public safety, emergency medical services and other needs. Meanwhile, they have watched CaroMont Health – one of the county’s largest employers – flourish in part because it is a nonprofit entity that pays only minimal taxes.

The $1-a-year lease was renewed in 2005 and will not expire until 2035. County commissioners want to renegotiate that.

CaroMont leaders argue that they already support the community by contributing charity care and absorbing bad debt, to the tune of more than $100 million per year.

Hospital board members serve four-year, staggered terms. Three of the seats are coming open at the end of this month.

Rather than reappointing Dr. Bob Crouch, a Bessemer City dentist, and Dr. Kelvin Harris, a CaroMont-affiliated gynecologist, the commissioners turned to two new faces. Crouch was ousted in favor of Donnie Loftis, an outgoing county commissioner who did not run for re-election this year, but who is receptive to the county’s needs. Annette Carter, an outgoing Gaston County Board of Education member who has extensive experience in the medical field, was appointed to take Harris’ place.

‘A voice for the citizens’

In emails obtained by The Gazette, Crouch responded angrily and with surprise to not being reappointed. Commissioners Allen Fraley and Joe Carpenter justified the move by explaining that Crouch had not been a team player, and that ousting him and others was “the only way to get the job done.”

“I certainly feel our board is solid on this front and I don’t think you will see any let up until a new deal is reached,” Fraley wrote to Crouch. “From the outside looking in, it sure seems your board spent much more time trying to secure reappointments, (rather) than helping to complete a new contract!”

Williams said a number of “qualified people” have approached him recently about serving on the hospital board.

“As far as I’m concerned, I want the person I appoint to be an asset to the hospital, and at the same time look at the interests of the county,” he said. “I don’t think those are mutually exclusive things.”

Williams said he’s not looking to put someone in place to secure a sweetheart deal or “bring home the bacon” for Gaston County.

“But I do want someone who will be a voice for the citizens of the county,” he said. “I think that’s why the board is set up the way it is.”

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.